Jaym Gates writes about “War Stories” for “The Whole Is Greater”

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The Whole is Greater is a semi-regular feature on the blog where I ask the editors of anthologies to tell us about their experience working on an anthology.  Today’s features Jaym Gates, whom I had the pleasure to meet at Origins this year.  Jaym is the co-editor of War Stories, which is running a Kickstarter campaign through the 14th of November. 
Every project I’ve
worked on has had its own excitement, and looking back, I love all of
them. But the one I’m working on now, War Stories is
the most exciting one yet, and one I really hope leaves a lasting
impression of the best sort.
War is a harsh
mistress, to everyone it touches. Sometimes it breaks people.
Sometimes it brings out the best in them.
The history, the
technology, the political and social triggers, all those elements of
war are fascinating, and could fill endless books. But what does it
look like from the ground? What are the stories from the front lines,
the aftermath, the hospital? What does war do to the internal
landscape of soldiers and civilians? How do we, as humans, survive,
recover, move on, break, adapt to the unique and awful stress of
conflict?
War Stories is a
project that keeps surprising me. The stories we’ve selected so far
have surprised me with their breadth: a disabled veteran helping an
AI deal with guilt; a little South African ghost girl protected by
the downloaded consciousness of her rebel father; a commanding
officer making an awful decision in defense of his troops; a
commanding officer struggling to save one of her soldiers from
suicidal penance; a soldier giving all to save civilians.
On-planet, off-planet.
Near-future, far-future, alternate-future. Human, alien, robot, AI.
My co-editor, Andrew Liptak, and I wanted their stories to be told.
These are the stories
you find out when you ask your grandparents if anyone else in your
family served in the military; that a soldier tells her wife when she
can finally talk about what happened; that get told to boost courage
before a first battle, or a twentieth.
These are stories about
ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, and I can’t wait to
share this project with everyone.
War Stories is a
project from Apex Publications, currently funding on Kickstarter,
ending November 14, 2013.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andrewliptak/war-stories-modern-military-science-fiction
#sfwapro